In a surprise move, Square Enix sold three of its Western development studios in early May, but that doesn’t mean the company will abandon its internal studies indeed, it aims to found new ones, as underlined during the last conference with shareholders.
As reported in the documents released by the publisher, one of the future objectives is to improve the production chain and to do so it may be necessary “open new studios or upgrade existing ones” presumably in both the West and Asiasince no distinction is made in this regard.
Square Enix has been burned by the performance of AAA games released over the past twelve months, specifically Outriders, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, NieR Replicant and Balan Wonderworld did not have the success hoped for, as did the relaunch of Marvel’s Avengers. Online games and MMOs such as Dragon Quest X (not available in the West) and Final Fantasy XIV on the other hand, they continue to enjoy good success with the public and critics.
There sale of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal allowed the company to collect around 300 million that will be reinvested in the entertainment business, with an eye also to blockchain, AI and non-fungible token (NFT) projects.
